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(No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 1l M. N. FORNEY.

GAR SEAT.

No. 566,675. PatentedAug. 25, 1896.

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(No Model.) 5 Sheets-She'et. 2.

M. N. FORNBY. GAR SEAT.

Patented Aug. 25, 1896.

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(No Model.)d 5 Sheets-Sheet 3. M. N. PORNEY.

GAR SEAT.

N6. 566,675. Patented Aug; 26, 1666.

FIE-3- WITNESSES: INVENTGR @m QM. fyi/fm? d66/6am www (No Moaex.) 5 sheets-sheet 4,

M. N. FORNEY. GAR SEAT. No. 566,675. Patented Aug 25, 1896.

WITNESSES: INVENTR (No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 5.

M. N. FORNEY.

GAR SEAT. No. 566,675. Patented Avug, 25, 1896.

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MATTHIAS N. FORNEY, OF NEWT YORK, N. Y.

CAR-SEAT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 566,675, dated August 25, 1896.

Application ledNovember 22, 1895. Serial No. 569,765. (No model.)

To ali whom it may concern:

-Be it known that I, MATTHIAS N. FORNEY, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Railroad-Car Seats, of which improvement the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the class of carseats having backs which are transferable from one side of the seat to the other without being inverted or turned upside down; and its object is to provide a seat having a lieXible or articulated back which can be thus transferred and operated by simple appliances; also, to afford the capability of so changing the form or outline of the seat-back through its operating mechanism and in and by the act of transfer or reversal that in either position which the seat-baclrmay occupy in relation to the seat it shall present a lower convex portion and an upper concave portion for the support of the lumbar region of the back and the shoulder-blades, respectively, of the occupants of the seat; also, to provide simple and effective means for im parting desired inclination to the seat and for locking the seat-back in either of its serv ice positions.

To this end my invention, generally stated, consists in the combination of seat-supports, a seat sustained thereon, a flexible or articulated seat-back which is transferable from one side of the seat to the other without being inverted, and pairs of arms so connected to the seat-back and supportingframe as to effect a change in the form of the seat-back in and by its transfer relatively to the seat; also, in the combination of seat-supports, a seat fitted to rock thereon, a seat-back which is transferable from one side of the seat to the other, and mechanism for changing the inclination of the seat in and by the transfer of the seat-back; also, in the combination of seat'supports, a seat, a transferable seatback, pairs of arms connected to the seatback and to lined pivots, and a lock fixed to one of said arms and engaging either of two holes in the adjacent arm..

The improvement claimed is hereinafter fully set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is an end view in elevation of a railroad-car seat an d seat-back, illustrating an application of my invention, the seat-back and arms being shown in full lines on the left side of the seat and in dotted lines as reversed or transferred to the opposite side of the seat; Fig. la, a front view of one of the pivot-plates of the seat-back detached; Fig. 2, a vertical transverse section on the line ct h c d of Fig. 3; Fig. 3, a vertical longitudinal section on the line ef g of Fig. 1; Fig. 4, an end view in elevation illustrating a modification of structural detail; Fig. 5, a view showing one pair of arms and a portion of the seat-back of the same; Fig. G, a diagrammatic view indicating the relation of the pivot-centers in the construction shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3; and Fig. 7, a similar view showing the lower pivots as placed more closely together than the upper pivots.

In Figs. 2 and 3 the internal parts and details of the upholstery inside of the seat and back are omitted for greater clearness, that is to say, the outlines only of the seat and back cushions are shown, the springs, covering, dsc., being omitted.

In the practice of my invention I provide a suitable support, which, in the instance eX- emplified, consists of a seat-end or seat-stand 2l fixed to the licor of the car and connected by seat-rails 25 with the side of the car. These rails my be omitted and isolated stands or supports similar to those described in Letters Patent No. 436,563, granted to me September 16, 1890, may be used. These stands or supports are provided with pivotal bearings or fulcrums lll. These maybe attached to and be supported by the rails, as shown at 14' in Fig. 3, or they may be fastened to the side of the car. The seat 13 consists of a cushion fitted to a suitable cushion-frame, which is provided, near its ends and in its longitudinal central plane, with sockets 15, which iit over and rest upon the pivotal bearings or fulcrums 14 let', secured to the seat-stand and to the seat-rails, respectively, so that the seat may be rocked upon them as supports, in

order to be downwardly inclined toward its rear side in either service position of the IOO y boards 7 8 9.

and is connected at its ends by pairs of reversing-arms 1 1 and 2 2 to fixed pivots on the seat-supports, or which may be fastened independently to the iioor or side of the car. The back may then be reversed or transferred from one side of the seat to the other, to occupy a service position on either side thereof, without being inverted or turned upside down. The outline of the upper portion of the seat-back, at 0c on the left of Fig 1 and at 'w' on the right, next to the occupants of the seat, is, as will be seen, of concave form in both positions, and the lower portion, at z and at y', is convex, such form being that which has been found to provide the most effective and easy support for the backs of occupants. In order that the seat-back may have the same form relatively to the occupants when transferred from one side of the seat to the other, which maintenance of relative form involves the relative transposition of its convex and' concave portions, my invention provides mechanism for iiexing the seat-back in and by its transfer or reversal from one side of the seat to the other, as hereinafter described.

The seat-back may be upholstered, with or without spiral springs and elastic ibrous Inaterial, in the usual manner, or fibrous material alone may be used,or the seat-back maybe without elastic upholstery. As before stated, the outline only of the upholstery is indicated, the springs and fibrous material not being represented. lVhen springs are used, they are caused to bear against the frame of the seat-back, which consists of slats or Vhen upholstery is used, it is o f the character ordinarily employed in cushions for chairs and seats.

In turning the arms over from the left side of the seat to the right, and thus transferring the seatfback from one side of the seat to the other, the centers of lines drawn through the centers of the pivots of each arm will always be parallel and the pivots in the upper ends of the arms will move in the arcs w w and oc to. lVhile doing so a line drawn through the centers of the two contiguous pivots 12 12 or 12 12 will always be horizontal, and consequently the lines w a; and y z, when the back is moved over to the right side of the seat, as indicated by the dotted lines, will coincide with the lines w and y z and be horizontal in both positions. Inasmuch as the center linesj 7c and 7L 1'. are both perpendicular to the center lines w a: and y z, the

upper and lower sections of the seat-back will stand vertically in any position of the seatback. The central section 8 8 being connected to the upper and lower sections by hinges 10 10, has the same inclination as the arms when the seat-back is in the positions represented in Figs. 1 and 3. -This inclination, which is the proper one for this portion of the seat-back, would be too great for comfort if the entire seatback was as much inclined, but by maintaining the upper and lower portions in a vertical position in combination with the inclined position of the middle portion, as above described, a seat-back is provided which gives the occupants of the seat the maximum amount of comfort, for the reason explained in Letters Patent of the United States No. 324,825, granted and issued to me on August 25, 1885.

It has heretofore been attempted to reverse seat-backs by means of single or double vertical reversing-arms at each end of the seatback, but the constructions were objectionable for the reason that it had always been necessary to connect the seat-back to the arms through more or less complicated mech anism in order to obtain the proper inclination of the seat-back. By combining a iiexible back with armsof such character and connecting it to them by the system of pivots above described the middle of the seat-back is given the proper inclination, and at the same time the upper and lower portions are maintained in the positions which are most conducive to comfort. p

As shown in the drawings, the frame of the seat-back consists of three sections 7 7, 8 8, and 9 9, each of which sections is composed of two slats, which are connected together by cleats 17, 18, and 19. The several sections, which may each consist of a single slat or board, if desired, are connected together by hinges 10 10 at their adjoining ends. Metal plates 11 11, each provided with two pivots 12 12, are attached at each end of the frame to the upper and lower sections thereof, one of said plates being represented detached in a separate view, Fig. 1a. The centers of the pivots 12 12 are located on a horizontal line equidistant from the vertical center line h z' of the plates 11, which are screwed fast to the cleats of the upper and lower sections of the seat-back frame, and the central section is attached to the upper and lower ones by the hinges 10 10. These pivots might also be placed vertically in relation to each other, but -I prefer the location which is shown.

In order to reverse the seat-back or transfer it from one side of the seat to the other, two pairs of reversing-arms 1 l 2 2 are provided at the ends of the seat-back. The lower ends of these arms are mounted on fixed pivots 2O 20, which are preferably attached to the seat-stand 21 at one end of the seat, and may be fastened to the side of the car at the other end. The centers of the pivots 2O 2O are located on a horizontal line Z m a few inches apart and equidistant from the vertical center line f g of the seat. These pivots might also be locatedvertically in relation to each other. At the upper ends of the reversing-arms 1 1/ 2 2 holes are drilled to receive the pivots 12 12, attached to the upper section of the seat-back frame; and intermediate between the ltwo ends of the arms other holes 12 12 are drilled to receive the corresponding pivots of the plates 11, at-

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tac-hed to the lower section of the seat-back. The centers of the holes in the arms lie in the straight lines a o and n o', and as the distances between the pivot-centers at 12 12, 12' 12', and 2O 2O are preferably the same, the two lines fa 0 and n' o are parallel. As lines drawn through the centers of the pivotal connections of the arms with the seat-supports and the seat-back would form the cutline of a rhomboidal form in whatever position the arms are placed, therefore, for convenience of designation, they may be termed parallel or rhomboidal arms in contradistinction from arms whose center lines cross each other, which are described in Letters Patent No. 32et,825, granted to me August 25, 1885.

In order that the angle formed by the juxtaposition of rigid slats where the upper and lower sections of the back join each other may not be too sharp, so as to be felt through the upholstery, as shown in Fig. 2, a considerable space is allowed to intervene between the adjacent slats 7 and 8 and S and 9, and webbing, canvas, or other ilexible material 12n 12, Fig. 2, is attached to said slats and extends from one to the other. This may then be used as a seat or support for the springs or fibrous material which forms the upholstery.

Instead of employing' a frame for the seatback consisting of rigid sections connected together by hinges or articulations, as shown, the frame may, if desired, be formed of nexible material, so that its form can be changed by bending, as set forth in Letters Patent No. A188,902 aforesaid.

In order to impart to the seat in either position of the seat-back the desired downward and rearward inclination which it should have to make it comfortable, it is, as before stated, supported and rocks on fulcrums or pivots 14, through suitable sockets 15 15. Projections 16 16 are attached to the reversing-arms l l', one 0r the other of which projections engages with a bearing-face formed by an angle-plate 2i on the end of the seat when the reversing-arms are thrown over, thereby depressing the plate and with it the seat on the side next to the seat-back, and thus giving the seat the required inclination.

It will be obvious that when the reversing arms are moved so as to throw the back from one side of the seat to the other the arms have a certain amount of longitudinal movement in relation to each other and that without such movement they could not be thrown over. This longitudinal movement is utilized in connection with means for locking the seatback in either of its two positions. To this end a lug 22, Fig. 1, is attached to the arm 1' and overlaps the arm l. The lug 22 carries a lock 22, the bolt of which engages in a hole drilled in the arm 1. ln that position of the bolt the seat-back is held in the position rep resented by the full lines in Fig. 1, and when the seat-back is reversed and the arms are in the position on the right of the seat, (represented by the dotted lines,) the bolt of the lock engages with another hole 23 in the arm 1, and then and thereby holds the seatbaclr in its reversed position.

It is to be noted that it is not essential that the center lines drawn through the pivotholes of the reversing-arms should be absolutely parallel with each other, and, on the other hand, they might possibly with advantage be somewhat inclined to each other. Thus, if it were desired to give the upper portion of the top section of the seat-back a backward inclination and the lower portion of the bottom section a forward inclination, this could be effected, as indicated in Fig. 7, by locating the lower pivots 2O 20 nearer together than those which are attached to the seat-backvThe form which center lines drawn through the centers of the pivots would then assume would be a trapezium, but this would not involve any departure from Vthe principle on which the reversing mechanism operates, and would give the means for adjusting the form and position of the portions' of the seat-back in relation to each other as may be found desirable. The reversin g-arms may also, as shown in Figs. et and 5, be made of such a form that when the back is in either of its service positions they will lap over each other; that is, when the back is in the position in which it is shown in Fig. 1 one of the arms will be immediately in front of the other. lVhen so made, the projections containing the holes for the pivots l2 12 and 12 12 extend farther from the arms than they would if made as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, and the lock is then attached directly to one of the arms instead of to a lug or projection, as shown in Fig. 1. lVhen the arms are made to lap over each other, the center lines drawn through the pivots will still be substantially parallel, and will always occupy a rhomboidal or trapezoidal form and will not cross each other.

The leading essential and characteristic feature of my present invention consists of an articulated or flexible seat-back in com bination with the arms of which the center lines drawn through their points of connection always lie in a rhomboidal or trapezoidal form and pivot mechanism employed for effecting a transfer of the seat-back from one side of the seat to the other and a coincident change of form of the seat-back, as above described.

l claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent-M 1. The combination, substantially as set forth, of seat-supports, a car-seat sustained thereon, an articulated or flexible seat-back, and arm and pivot mechanism connected to the seat-back and to fixed pivots, and adapted to transfer the seat-back from one side of the seat to the other without inverting the back, and to effect a change in its form in and by its transfer relatively to the seat.

2. The combination, substantially as set IOO IIO

forth, of seat-supports, a car-seat sustained thereon, an articulated or flexible seat-back, and two pairs of arms, each arm connected to a fixed pivot, and pivoted, at two points, to the seat-back.

3. The combination, substantially as set forth, of seat-supports, a car-seat sustained thereon, an articulated or flexible seat-back, two pairs of arms,- each arm pivoted at one end to a fixed pivot, and pivots connecting' each of the arms to the upper and lower sections of the seat-back.

4. The combination, substantially as set forth, of seat-supports, 'a car-seat sustained thereon, an articulated or IieXible seat-back which is transferable from one side of the seat to the other, two pairs of arms, each arm pivoted at one end to a fixed pivot and to the upper and lower sections of the seat-back, the pivotal connections of the arms being relatively disposed so that their centers will be on the contour of a substantially rhomboidal figure, in either service position of the seatback.

5. The combination, substantially as set forth, of seat-supports, a car-seat sustained thereon, an articulated or flexible seat-back con sisting of a middle section which is flexibly connected to upper and lower sections,

pairs of arms, each arm pivoted at one end to a fixed pivot and to the upper and lower sections of the seat-back, the pivotal connections of the arms being relatively disposed so that their centers will be located on one side of the contour of a substantially rhomboidal figure, in any position of the back, and a lock attached to one of said arms and adapted to engage with the adjacent arm in either serv= ice position of the seat-back;

MATTHIAS N. FORNEY.

Witnesses Guo. L. FowLER, F. J. FRENCH. 

